South Korea’s reliance on chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. has grown stronger than ever as the two are the only Korean names to join the world’s top 500 firms list in terms of market capitalization this year.

Samsung Electronics ranked 20th with a market cap of $268.4 billion and SK Hynix 267th with $51.7 billion, said Korea Exchange, the country’s sole securities exchange operator, on Thursday.

The two chipmakers now account for nearly one-fourth of Korea’s total market cap on the main Kospi, with Samsung Electronics’ share surging to 22 percent from 12.2 percent in a decade.

In late 2010, eight Korean names had landed on the top 500, including Samsung Electronics (43rd), Posco (219th), Hyundai Motor (258th), Hyundai Heavy Industries (300th), Hyundai Mobis (371st), LG Chem (405th), Shinhan Financial Group (423rd) and KB Financial Group (457th).

Samsung Electronics had moved up 23 notches in a decade while SK Hynix, which placed 805th in 2010, shot up 538 spots.

Experts say this reflects the global industrial shift from manufacturing to IT, as well as Korea’s weak domestic economy and its heavily export-reliant trade structure.

Apple topped the list with a market cap of $1.16 trillion, which was more than four times as big as Samsung’s. Microsoft came second with $1.11 trillion, followed by Google’s parent company Alphabet ($903.7 billion), Amazon ($885.4 billion) and Facebook ($542.2 billion). Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, ranked seventh.

Seven of the top 10 market caps on the list were technology companies, with Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase, Visa Card rounding out the top 10.

By Pulse

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